Blog Tour: Baby Gone Bye by Marilee Brothers

TITLE: Baby Gone Bye
AUTHOR: Marilee Brothers
PUBLICATION DATE: November 29, 2013
PUBLISHER: Belle Bridge Books
PAGES: 212 pages
FORMAT: Ebook
SOURCE: Blog tour via NetGalley
RATING: 3 bows
BUY LINKS: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

DESCRIPTION

High school senior, Gabe Delgado, is trying to trade his bad-boy ways for clean living. He remembers nothing about the night a mysterious girl loved him and left him at a party, except … there was a kind of magic around her that had nothing to do with his hangover the next day. Now he finds that “magic” in a basket on his doorstep, cooing at him like a happy little bird.

The note attached to the baby’s blanket says, “Gabe, you probably already know our baby is, well, different. If not, you’ll find out soon enough. Let’s just say she has certain qualities most babies don’t have. The thing is, I’m scared. I’m on my own and can’t keep her safe. But, you can. You’re strong. You have a family to watch out for her. Bad people want her. That’s why I left her with you. I don’t really understand what’s going on, but it has something to do with The Abolesco. Don’t try to find me. Please, take care of our baby girl and love her. Okay?”

Gabe soon discovers there are bad people on baby Birdie’s trail, but why? Suddenly party-boy Gabe has to man up to protect his daughter. Not so easy when her talents include vanishing into thin air. It’s up to Gabe and his girl-pal Abby—who has some extraordinary secrets of her own—to find out what’s up with something called the Scientific Academy of Merit, what the goons want with Birdie, and whether other people like Birdie can be saved too.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marilee Brothers is a former teacher, coach and counselor. The author of eight books, Marilee and her husband are the parents of three grown sons and live in central Washington State. After writing six young adult books, Marilee is currently hard at work, writing an adult thriller. She loves hearing from people who have read her books. Feel free to contact her at http://www.marileebrothers.com.

Contact Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

MY REVIEW

Gabe Delgado’s life changes in a second. One minute, he’s a normal man-whore teenage boy, and then he’s a father with a motherless child. This is not what he had planned for his life, but he must man up and live with the consequences of his actions. Though he knows next to nothing about babies, he quickly realizes Birdie isn’t your typical infant, she can teleport. This special gift puts her in grave danger. Bad people are searching for her and it’s up to Gabe and his family to keep her safe and find out what really happened to her mom.

I was pretty excited to get invited to this tour. This cover is adorable and the description promised a coming of age story for a guy who is in for a big surprise. Like, everything I read, there were good points and bad points. Here the two sides level out pretty evenly. Gabe was a character I could never make my mind up about. Initially, after he finds the baby and then expects his dad to watch it while he continues his evening as usual had me screaming at his naivety. Seriously? You don’t get how that’s absurd? But he grows and changes. As his love for Birdie grows, so does my tolerance of his shenanigans. He may do some jackass things, but he puts it all on the line to keep his daughter safe and what more can I really ask of any teenage guy? There are plenty who would have dropped the kid off at the first foster care center he could find and be done with it. Which is a really sad thing, but there are so many teens put in that situation (via their own irresponsibility) and their offspring suffers the consequences. It’s such bullshit…but I’m getting off topic.

Abby was an intensely interesting character. I liked her enough to really wish we got some from her perspective. We don’t, it’s all from Gabe, but I wholly enjoyed her character. I think the romance between the two was a little rushed, but at the same time, I wanted to focus more on that. I’m a romance junkie so the more smooches, the better. I think the biggest issue I had was that it all felt a little rushed and underdeveloped. Once Birdie gets kidnapped, everything progresses so quickly that you don’t really catch all that’s happening until it’s over.

Though I definitely didn’t fall in love with this story, there were elements I enjoyed, mostly the moments between Birdie and Gabe where he really shows his love and affection or the smoochy bits with Abby. I think with a bit more polish, this could be an amazing tale. It has the bones of a great story, with a good lead character, a sweet romance, a decent mystery, and that father-daughter element that has every woman within a ten mile radius sighing.

****Thank you to Belle Bridge Books & Marilee Brothers for providing me with a digital review copy for the blog tour via NetGalley****